I used to use Duolingo - hell, even paid for premium - as it was a nice way to improve my skills in a language I was already learning.

But as time went by the app got more and more enshittified. How can somebody use it today, I don’t know.

My biggest gripe is that it went from “let’s help you learn" to “let’s get you competing against each other to stay in this made up league”. Once I realized I’m doing lessons only for this and not learning anything, it was game over for me. And, most of the time, I’m competing against people who are there solely for the score. And because of that, rushing through the lessons and not learning anything.

In the end, I would imagine there are only so many only-Spanish-speaking people in the US learning English. And only so many only-English-speaking in Germany learning German. And these people usually topped my leader boards.

And don’t get me started on streaks. I’ve had a death in my family and no, Duolingo, these days is not a good time to practice my Spanish. I’m on a 14-hour flight. No, Duolingo, I’m not pestering everybody on the plane with Klingon for your streak. I’ve been up since 6 o’clock and came home at seven in the evening. No, Duolingo, spending time with my family is more important today than you.

I want to learn, but at my own pace. I’ve uninstalled Duolingo and never looked back.

Well, first I hear of it.

You can do all of that with a normal bank account in Europe.

Vendors will accept debit cards and there’s a thing called SEPA Instant Payments.

You do not need ‘a PayPal’.

That being said, I keep my ‘main bank account’ separate from my ‘spending bank account’ for which I use Revolut.

There are no stupid questions. I sincerely did not understand it as such. If you don’t know something, ask. If you have no idea where to start, ask. And this is how I understood it.

EU is not a single country, as the US. Each country has its own rules and regulations.

Some countries, as mentioned, offer a digital nomad visa (Croatia is one of them) others do not.

There’s also something called the Shengen area, which allows for free movement between countries. Not all EU counties participate (yet) and even some non-EU countries are part of it. This allows you to have a citizenship in one country and live / work in another.

As for the language, your mileage can vary. Most countries will require at least a basic language knowlege to pass the citizenship test. For day-to-day communication, work and study, you can find options where English would be sufficient. Lots of universities offer English-language programs and lost of companies are international with English being the primary language. Most Europeans speak English quite well.

As others have mentioned, a student visa for one of these would be your best bet. Explore which country would make most sense based on your needs.

If student visa is not an option, then getting a job (in the target country) first would be a way in. Get a working visa and start applying for citizenship.

You should also understand that literary everybody in Europe (not just EU) has an ID and is registered as a citizen. It’s therefore practically impossible to be undocumented and still get salary, open a bank account or visit a doctor.

TL;DR: Explore each country individually. “Moving to EU” makes as much sense as saying “Moving to Asia”.

Your job change, you should. 🙂

Joke aside, depends what is the issue here:

1. Are you unsatisfied with your job or
2. You enjoy/value your free so much.

As others have mentioned, find something to look forward to. If you’re miserable at your job, see what you can do to change that. Any small wins you can look forward to?

If you’re in a position “do I really need to do this for the next 30-40 years”, that’s a more difficult thing to resolve. We’ve set up a system for ourselves where that is the only possibility of surviving in this world. To change that you’d need to move somewhere to the highlands of Scotland or a tropical island somewhere and live completely off the grid. Unfortunately, though, that life is not easy.

Your best bet is to be born rich. Other than that, friends help. Having a support net and something to do that brings you joy makes this a tiny bit more bearable. Go read books. Go to the park. Sign up for dancing lessons or martial arts. Learn a new language. Travel. World is so much more than what we see on TV.

Mail is freaking hard. It’s not the setup that’s the issue. It’s getting enough reputation that your emails don’t get bounced into oblivion.

Believe me, I have tried.

You run into things like registering your netblock with Microsoft so it can accept your emails. You don’t own a netblock? Didn’t think so. Do you have enough outgoing emails so your IP builds up reputation as a reliable sender, so you don’t get thrown into spam by Google? Didnt think so either. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

What I ended up doing is use one of the big providers (be it Google, Microsoft, Tuta, Proton or something else) and just pull the email to my server. Sending out works the same. Basically using them as proxy.

I still get to keep my email and I’m I independent from the whims of my email provider. The tradeoff being I need to shell out a few bucks per month and email still passes their servers.

Haven’t found a better solution yet, unfortunately.

Unfortunately, that’s a question only you can answer. But goes without saying for any job.

Ask yourself:

• Will you be able to sleep peacefully at night knowing what job you’re doing and who you’re doing it for?
• Are your morals stronger then job security you’re getting?
• Can you stay on the job and inact change from within?
• Can you refuse certain tasks you don’t feel comfortable with?
• Can you steer / influence the work that you and/or the agency does?

Edit: typos.